In a known navigation apparatus, when a driver inputs a destination and sets search conditions, a route search process is performed based on the set search conditions, and a route from a starting point indicated by the position of a host vehicle (hereinafter, the “vehicle position”) to the destination is searched based on map data. The route found in the search (hereinafter, the “searched route”) is displayed on a map screen provided on a displaying unit, together with the vehicle position, and guidance along the searched route (hereinafter “route guidance”) is provided. As a result, the driver is able to drive the vehicle along the searched route that is displayed.
When the vehicle passes through any of the intersections on the searched route, and in the case where any of the roads on the searched route has a plurality of lanes, a lane list that serves as a lane guidance diagram is displayed on a predetermined screen provided on the displaying unit (see, for example, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. JP-A-2003-329468).
In this case, a section within a predetermined distance in the forward direction of the vehicle position is set as a lane list display section. A lane list is generated for each of the intersections that are within the lane list display section and have a traffic light. For each of the intersections that are positioned between the vehicle position and a guidance intersection, the lane list shows the lanes in each of the roads that have access to the intersection (hereinafter, the “access roads”). For this purpose, the information of the lanes is recorded into a data recording unit as lane data.